Burning For Nero (SEALs Going Hot) (3 page)

She hugged her son to her chest in anticipation of their happy little number.

From the corner of her eye, she spied Tony, in civvies tonight. A white T-shirt. Khaki shorts. One massive shoulder to the far wall, a beer in his good hand, his devil’s black eyes fixed on her.

She met his gaze, lingering there, shivering in recollection of how they had locked eyes that afternoon in her car. God. What had she done there? She had slipped and shown him something new about herself. Her vulnerability? Her desire?

Kissing her son’s silky toe head, she forced her attention away from Nero. He was too handsome, too devastating to her composure to gaze at too long.

No wonder women say they burn for Nero.

She closed her eyes. She could still see him, imprinted indelibly on her mind.

He was a giant of a man. Bigger than Ray had been. Taller by a few inches, broader by far, all solid scrumptious muscle beneath deeply tanned skin that rippled and enticed a woman to touch him. He moved like a viper, smooth and silent, fluid in his grace, belying the vicious animal he could be. He was a predator, his black hair sleek and thick, his onyx eyes hypnotizing, luring his prey, alluring in his concentration.

Then he would speak, breaking the spell he cast, and his bass voice would envelop you from the pits of Hades. No other man spoke that low. That soft. He seemed to murmur, like white noise in your mind and soul. Shearing a woman of her ability to think clearly. Leaving her alive but swamped in only one desire—to allow that velvet seduction to seep into her blood and bones so she could crawl inside his massive body and love him from the inside out.

“Cass!” her father-in-law called to her from the sideline. “You’re on.”

“Mommy!” Jon tugged at her. “Let’s go.”

Clearing her throat, she rose to her feet and grinned at her son. “They’re playing our song, buddy.”

“Yep. Let’s
do
it!”

She chuckled. Squaring her shoulders in the gold sequined flapper dress, she faced the audience and off the two of them went.

“By the light of the silvery moon,” she started in her contralto, then listened as Jon added his lines so easily and on key, too. This was going to work, by golly. Jon would gain confidence from the experience, which was just what she’d hoped for when she’d agreed to do it. Proud of her little boy, she grinned as they continued the song.

When the instrumental went into the refrain and the two of them began a simple tap dance on the plywood, Cass marveled that Jon not only had the steps down but had a grace and rhythm older than his years. Better yet by this time, the guests were awed, laughing and keeping time.

On one turn, she caught Tony gazing at her, his face suffused with delight at the two of them.

Choking in happiness, she directed her attention to her son. She winked at him, their signal that this time they would sing in counterpoint.

They finished and strutted off stage, one arm up waving, palms open, grinning to rollicking applause.

She snatched Jon up in her arms and kissed his chubby little face all over. He was giggling, something he hadn’t done in months. Not since Tony had ceased his visits.

“You were fabulous,” she told him with gusto. “So wonderful!”

“I want to be a singer.”

“You can be whatever you want, my darling.” She swung him around and then, his grandfather and grandmother were at her side to congratulate him and praise him.

Others came up to take her hand, kiss her cheek and giggle with her about how darn great she and Jon were together.

But Tony was not among them.

That surprised her and she searched the room. Curiosity drove her, but disappointment stung her when she found him.

There he was, still holding up that wall, looking not at her or Jon but gazing down at a female hand that covered one muscular pec. His sister’s praying mantis of a friend had announced that morning even before she clapped eyes on the man that she wanted him for her own.

And she’s doing a damn good job of making that a reality.

And what about Tony?

Cass blinked, clearing her vision.

He picked up the girl’s hand and politely removed it. Shoving off the wall, he smiled down at her and then, as if radar had zapped him, he looked up right into Cass’s eyes. He stared, as if he wanted some sign of her interest.

What would he think if she dared to show him how she valued him? Her heart pounded. Her lips parted.

He squinted at her. His mouth moved, forming her name. Then to the co-ed clutching his arm, he said, “Excuse me.”

Cass panicked.
What had she done? Shown him now? What was wrong with her? How many times had she told herself that she never wanted any part of another military man? Showing Tony how she wanted him was such a lapse of strength.

Licking her lips, she checked that Jon was in good hands with his grandfather and asked him to tuck Jon in for her. “I’m tired. A long day.”

What an idiot. She’d told herself she could upbraid Tony for his carelessness. Yelling at him would be a terrific way to get her rocks off and set him straight about his failure to visit Jon. But she’d let her other hopes slip onto her face in the car and here. To show emotions to a man who made his living reading every minute aspect of another person’s being was a no-no. What a fool she’d been to think she could hide anything from him. They were friends. That’s all they’d ever been. Well, she’d get out of here before she made a bigger mistake.

Wild to leave, she headed through the French doors. Across the patio to the lawn, she sank in the lush grass. Catching herself time and again from turning an ankle, she strode toward the boathouse. She stayed there whenever she visited, not wishing to sleep in the room she and Ray had shared. Jon still slept up at the main house, thinking it a vacation from Mommy and ordinary restrictions. Tonight, Cass needed the solitude the hideaway offered.

The moon was bright and she made her way quickly. She got to the steps before his hand grasped her wrist, the strength of the man she wished to escape halting her in her tracks.

“Stop. Cass, stop.”

“No.” No, she would not cry or beg or scream. She couldn’t demean herself like that. She took a step, but the giant in her path caught her against him. With just one arm, Tony could trap her.

Against his formidable body, against her better judgment, she wanted to simply stand there, never move.

He crushed her close, nearer than he ever had before, and she felt the power of his presence. His one good hand pressed her fully against him, then glided down her spine to press her hips to his. She caught her breath. He was hard. And he wanted her.

She turned to leave.

“Stay. Stay.”

She shook her head, her gaze beyond him. “Let me go, Tony.”

“I don’t want to.” He lifted her chin with his injured hand. “Look at me.”

Bravery was her forte. Hell, she’d been a warrior’s wife. To face this one was easy peasy. Right? She met his gaze.

Not the viper, not the seducer, not her friend, this man gazed down at her and absorbed her distress with sympathetic eyes. “You don’t want to go, either.”

“I couldn’t watch—” Oh, lord. Had she really blurted that? She was botching this.

“She came on to me, Cass.”

She stared at him, caught between delight at his words and regret at her own. If she had more nerve, she could own up to wanting him. If she weren’t so stuck in her friendship rut, she could make a move on him. Was her pride more important than finding out if he could care for her as more than a friend?

“Listen to me.” He stroked the small of her back. “I didn’t encourage her. Why would I, Cass?” His last words were so raw, she barely heard them. But the sorrow in them thrilled her and she looked up at him again. “Why would I when I just want to be with you? Tell you how I loved your song and dance with Jon. Praise you and say you are the finest mother, babe. Why would I want to be with her when you’re the one I want to talk to? Huh? Tell me.”

She was speechless with joy.

He cradled her near him as if she were fragile china. The feel of him was heaven, like coming home to a safe place she’d never known existed. He dropped kisses to the crown of her hair and his gentleness stunned her so that she wrapped her arms around his waist and burrowed into him.

He groaned and stepped out of her embrace.

Unbalanced, she stumbled.

But he clasped her hand and pulled her along, striding like a mercenary on a mission toward the front door of her boathouse. At the threshold, he halted, dropped her hand and looked down at her, a muscle in his jaw jumping. “Invite me inside, Cass.”

An order, a metaphor, a plea. His words were all of them and she reveled in their potential. In one lunge, she swept open the screen door and pulled him inside.

He whirled her against the inside wall, pinning her there with his body and cupping her throat. “Tell me why I’m here.”

Words would be too much, too soon. She’d show him. She undulated against him, this man she had watched and wanted for months now. Wrapping her arms around him, she brushed her mouth against the corded column of his throat, nuzzling the hollow beneath his Adam’s apple. She parted her lips to taste the musk of his very healthy body. She rose on her toes, pulling him closer, nestling her puckered lips into the hollow beneath his cheekbones. She slid her mouth to his and he waited, still as stone, letting her lead.

Ah, god.
She had hungered for this decadent taste of him for so long. She’d been so careful to tease apart her motives. Tony was kind, caring, no clone of Ray. No substitute either. She wanted him for his sweet, bad self. Could he want her because she was different from any other woman he took to bed? She paused to examine him.

“Don’t stop now. What’s in your eyes is too raw to be best friends with benefits.” He grabbed a fistful of her curls and yanked her head gently. “I won’t trespass. Our ties are too old, too strong. So, whatever I’m here for say it, or I’m leaving and we forget this ever happened.”

“Stay.” She took his mouth as if she were a dying woman, needing only the succor he gave. His lips were firm and willing. She grabbed him by the shirt, yearning to hold all of him, lose herself inside him. “I want all of you.”

“Since when?”

“Months and months.”

Growling, he pressed flush against her from chest to thighs. He seized her lips, bestowing sizzling kisses, grazing her tender flesh, scouring her mind. He sent his tongue inside the cavern of mouth and probed and plunged, fierce, claiming and testing. She mewled.

Breathless, he yanked away. “I’m hurting you.”

“No.” She curled her hands around his neck and drew his mouth once more to hers. “I need you to need me like that.”

“Christ, baby.” He sucked on her lips. “I’m trying not to gobble you up.”

“Damn. You’d better.”

He stopped, surprise living in his gaze, feral, dominant. This was that other Nero. Predator. Marauder. The sight of him in his splendor made her knees quiver. “What else can I do for you?”

When had any man ever asked her that? She licked her lips. “Multiple orgasms.”

He nodded, grinning. “Your wish is my command.”

Helpless joy flooded her. She’d grown so tired of Ray’s selfishness, she’d questioned any man’s desire to satisfy her in bed or out. The one man she had opened her legs for last year had turned out to be a total dud. All slap and tickle, full of sound and fury signifying nothing but
meh
. “You can deliver, huh?”

“Complain to me at any time,” Tony whispered with such utter compassion, that she realized he understood she lacked inspired loving. “One rule though,” he said against her mouth, his hand stroking her spine.

To have this man in her bed, inside her, this man to roll with and rock with? Oh, yes.
Yes.
“Name it.”

“We’re going to feast, you and I. But afterward, we talk.”

She swallowed hard. “Agreed.”

He tipped his head toward the main house. The happy sounds of their family and friends drifted across the lawn. “Too much history here to—”

She slanted a finger across his handsome mouth. A shroud of sadness fell over her. It was the history that sapped her. But so did the fact that she had fallen for the very type of man she had warned herself never to care for again. “You’re right.”

“Whatever it was that makes your beautiful brow furrow, sweetheart, isn’t it over and done?”

It should be.
“Perceptive man to read me so accurately.”

He smiled, his lips spreading wide in a grin that melted into the promise of pure lascivious sex.

The man was too beautiful. “We’ll talk. I’ll talk your ears off.” She ran her hands around the hem of his T-shirt, then up to caress the sculpted satin of his skin. She spread her fingers, his nipples hardening beneath her touch and she tweaked them. “I’ll tell you everything you never wanted to know about me.”

He stepped backward farther into the room and toward her bed as she peeled his shirt up over his head. “You snore?”

She chuckled. “I have a wooden leg.”

He snorted. “I have a woody, too.”

She widened her eyes at him in feigned shock. “Is it as long as my leg?”

“Take off my pants and find out.”

“Wow. You want this to go fast, do you?” She toyed with the button on his cutoffs.

He grinned, his fingertips grazing over the sensitive swell of her breasts above her neckline. “Fast? Not on your life. I’m gonna love you so long, you won’t be able to spell your name.”

She shivered in expectation. Then gave him a sideways glance. “Your woody must be quite a guy.”

“He’s been dreaming of having you for years.”

That socked the breath from her lungs. The wonder of it thrilled her to her toes. “Has he really?”

He feathered his fingers through her hair, his eyes damp with desire. “It was his secret—and mine.”

The yearning she heard in his confession wrung her heart. How could he have wanted her and she hadn’t known? “Tony, I—”

“Shh. No more of that. Let me show you.” He drew her to him then, sweet as a summer breeze, hard as the yearning she felt in his honed torso. She could scarcely believe she was here, curled up against him in such bliss. “Cass, baby. You have to help me here. My arm—”